Petco Foundation Awards $45,000 Grant to Humane Society of Northwest Montana

KALISPELL, MT, June 19, 2012

The Humane Society of Northwest Montana, home of the Charlotte Edkins Animal Adoption Center, announced today the award of a generous $45,000 grant award from the Petco Foundation, headquartered in San Diego, CA. Through the Foundation's "Capital Grant Program", this extraordinary gift will be used to replace the Humane Society's highly visible, beloved, and converted recreational truck known as the "Beagle". The Beagle is now well over 29 years old and maintenance and repairs have reached a point where the asset must be replaced. The Humane Society was thrilled to learn that the Petco Foundation had approved its application for $35,000 to replace the Beagle as well as $10,000 to retrofit the vehicle to make it effective for use in a wide variety of applications including 1. transporting animals to public events, 2. serving as a transport vehicle in emergencies or disasters, 3. acting as a mobile office for meeting with adoptive families and/or to conduct humane education with small groups, and 4. carrying collateral materials (tables, chairs, easels, posters, signage) that are erected outside and around the Beagle at events.

"This cements Petco's position as our # 1 corporate sponsor", said Lori Heatherington, Executive Director of the Humane Society. "While it is true that the Humane Society is home to the beautiful Charlotte Atkins Animal Adoption Center located off Highway 93 in Kalispell, the Beagle has long leveraged our effectiveness on adoptions, humane education, and community awareness by taking our operation mobile. Over many years, the Beagle has been a mainstay at holiday parades, fairs, sporting events, festivals, and other large public gatherings. These are all extremely valuable opportunities for us to promote adoptable animals, to conduct humane education, and generally to strengthen our local presence."

The Humane Society expects to replace the older and box-like Beagle with a newer looking model known as a Class "C" Motor Home. While it will take a few months to locate, purchase, and remodel the interior of the new Beagle so that it is suitable for a multiplicity of animal related tasks, residents can rest assured the new vehicle will be ready to roll in the fall and winter season festivals and parades. Even more important, area residents will surely notice the new Beagle during "National Adoption eekends" at the newly remodeled Petco Store in Kalispell, serving as both a magnet to the store and as an exciting venue for adoptions and public awareness.

The Humane Society of Northwest Montana is home of the Charlotte Edkins Animal Adoption Center. Governed by a Board of Directors,HSNWMT is a private,non-profit 501 (c)(3) limited admission,no-kill organization that focuses on finding caring,loving homes for orphaned cats and dogs and ending the destruction of healthy adoptable pets.